A second deer from the deer farm in New Oxford, Adams
County, has been confirmed to have been infected with chronic wasting disease,
according to the state Department of Agriculture.

The same deer enclosure on a 1.5-acre lot that also includes
a residence at 1491 New Chester Road, New Oxford, was the site of
Pennsylvania's first confirmed case of CWD, an always fatal disease in cervids
like deer, elk and moose.

View full sizePA GAME COMMISSIONChronic wasting disease has now been confirmed in two deer in Pennsylvania.

Previous lab tests confirmed CWD Oct. 10 in a 3.5-year-old
doe that died Oct. 4 in the enclosure.

That triggered the state's CWD response plan for action by
agencies including Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Part of the plan called for the "depopulation" of all deer
on the farm of the initial CWD confirmation, which is now referred to as "the
index farm," according to Mathew Meals,
deputy secretary of the state Department of Agriculture.

The other seven deer killed Oct. 18 by staff from Ag and
agents from the USDA's Wildlife Services for CWD testing did not have the
disease, according to Ag. There is no live-test available for suspect animals.

However, a ninth deer, a doe known as Pink 23, escaped from
the enclosure while the agents were culling the herd for testing. It remains
free in the wild.

The state's second positive case of CWD was a buck, according to Ag.

"Since the first positive deer was found in Pennsylvania last month, the Chronic Wasting Disease Task Force has put in place aggressive measures to prevent further spread of the disease," Agriculture Secretary George Greig was quoted in a news release from Ag.

"This positive deer was found because of those efforts, and we will continue our work to protect the state's captive and wild deer populations."

Also under the CWD response plan, the list of deer farms quarantined by Ag because of contact with deer from the New Oxford enclosure has grown to 27 farms in 16 counties.

At the initial CWD-response public meeting Oct. 17, Assistant State Veterinarian David Griswold estimated that the impact of the one CWD-infected deer could hit a hundred farms across the state because "deer farmers in Pennsylvania tend to move a lot of deer."

Ag is continuing its "trace out" process to find all possible connections to the CWD deer, according to Samantha Krepps, spokesman for the department of agriculture.

The department lists 1,100 farms across the state, home to more than 23,000 deer.

Under its part of the CWD response plan, the Game Commission
has established a disease management area of more than 600 square miles in
Adams and York counties, around the site of the first CWD confirmation and two
closely related sites.

The commission also has established a CWD check station at
its maintenance building on State Game Lands 249, 1070 Lake Meade Road, East
Berlin, Adams County, for all deer killed within the DMA.

The state's CWD task force meets weekly to continue moving forward with a response plan, including education and outreach through public meetings, and continued surveillance, testing and management.

In addition to Ag and Game, the state departments of Health and Environmental Protection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Geological Survey's Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and Penn State are represented on the task force.

CWD attacks the brains of infected animals, producing small lesions that eventually result in death.

Animals can get the disease through direct contact with saliva, feces and urine from an infected animal.

There is no evidence that humans or animals other than cervids can get the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.